If you are young and your hair has turned grey,you need not worry.A team of European scientists have not only found how hair turns gray,but also come up with a way to help your gray hair turn black again.

A report in the Science Daily says that gray is caused by a massive build up of hydrogen peroxide due to wear and tear of hair follicles.The peroxide winds up blocking the normal synthesis of melanin,human hair’s natural pigment.

“Not only blondes change their hair color with hydrogen peroxide,” the report quoting Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, said. “All of our hair cells make a tiny bit of hydrogen peroxide, but as we get older, this little bit becomes a lot. We bleach our hair pigment from within, and our hair turns gray and then white. This research, however, is an important first step to get at the root of the problem, so to speak.”

The report further states that the researchers made this discovery by examining cell cultures of human hair follicles.” They found that the build up of hydrogen peroxide was caused by a reduction of an enzyme that breaks up hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen (catalase).

They also discovered that hair follicles could not repair the damage caused by the hydrogen peroxide because of low levels of enzymes that normally serve this function (MSR A and B). Further complicating matters, the high levels of hydrogen peroxide and low levels of MSR A and B, disrupt the formation of an enzyme (tyrosinase) that leads to the production of melanin in hair follicles. Melanin is the pigment responsible for hair color, skin color, and eye color. The researchers speculate that a similar breakdown in the skin could be the root cause of vitiligo.

As any blue-haired lady will attest, sometimes hair dyes don’t quite work as anticipated,” Weissmann added. “This study is a prime example of how basic research in biology can benefit us in ways never imagined.”